


lover, tell me, when we're wed

by could-have-beens (uncorrectgrammar)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pre-Epilogue, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uncorrectgrammar/pseuds/could-have-beens
Summary: "That has to be the least romantic proposal you could have come up with. Well done."
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 13
Kudos: 48





	lover, tell me, when we're wed

**Author's Note:**

> Title is taken from "Wedding Song" from Hadestown.

Ron didn't mean to say it aloud.

Honestly.

It wasn't like he planned to make a fool of himself in the Ministry cafeteria, of all places. The words came out of his mouth without his say so, and it just . . . happened.

In his defence, it was sort of Hermione's fault. She was across from him, talking about her co-worker who had just gotten back from his honeymoon from Tahiti and how it was, apparently, wedding season or some such nonsense. Ron didn't even know weddings could have seasons, but he wasn't going to argue with _Witch Weekly_ headlines.

They weren't entirely wrong, to be fair. Many of their friends were getting married these days. Luna had gotten engaged to that Scamander fellow a few weeks back, Neville and Hannah were getting married in two months, and even Percy — _Percy!_ — had eloped with a Muggle and was being nagged by Mum into throwing a proper wedding.

So it wasn't really Ron's fault that all this talk of weddings suddenly made him say —

"Do you want a wedding?"

Hermione dropped her fork and made a noise somewhere between a cough and a snort. "A _what_?"

Not a very encouraging response, but oh well.

"A wedding," said Ron, willing his voice to sound as natural as possible. "You know, with the rings and the vows and the cake, because when a man loves a woman —"

"I know what weddings are," said Hermione, fixing him with The Look. The one where her brows scrunched up and her lips pursed sternly. Not encouraging at all.

Ron shrugged. "Well, why'd you ask? Sounded like you didn't know."

"Of course I know what they are! You say that as if I haven't —" She stopped abruptly, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "You're trying to distract me."

"Is it working?"

"You just asked if I wanted to get _married_."

"I asked if you wanted a wedding. Big difference."

Her eyebrows rose. "Oh? In what way?"

"Ah, well," he began, in his most noncommittal tone — one thing that, unfortunately, never really worked with Hermione. "You can get married without a wedding, right? Muggles do that, don't they? Get married without the . . . the _things._ "

"Fanfare?"

"Yeah. That thing. Things."

She stared at him for a moment, both eyebrows threatening to vanish into her hairline. "That has to be the least romantic proposal you could have come up with. Well done."

" _What_?" he sputtered. "No! That wasn't — I'm not — it was a _suggestion_!"

"Well," sniffed Hermione. "If you don't want to get married, you could've just said."

_Bloody hell._ Ron rubbed the back of his neck, wondering why he seemed to be having such a difficult time forming sentences that didn't involve cursing Percy and that newly married bloke's Tahiti honeymoon. On the bright side, at least Harry wasn't here to witness all this.

He decided to try again, for the sake of his dignity.

"I just meant — we've never really talked about it, have we? I wasn't sure if you'd, you know, want one. A wedding. It's fine if you don't, but I just wanted to be sure you don't . . . feel like you're missing out or something."

Hermione stared at him in silence a second longer, her eyebrows still miraculously high up on her forehead.

"Or something," she said. "I haven't actually said _no_."

"Are you saying _yes_ , then?"

"I haven't really thought much about it," she admitted. She tilted her head to the side, considering. "Our parents would love it, of course. I'm sure my dad would complain about everything the whole time, but he'd love it. They all would. And a honeymoon would be nice, certainly — it has been a while, hasn't it, since we've had a day off." She frowned. "It would be a lot of work though. Planning and booking venues and dates . . . but with our luck, you and Harry would be off chasing another rogue Death Eater whatever day we choose."

Hermione muttered a few moments longer about the pros and cons of having a wedding, and Ron noticed that the commitment marriage entailed was conspicuously absent from her list. It must be a non-issue, for her to not bring it up at all, and the thought made his face break into a grin.

"What about you, then?" she said suddenly, looking at him again with The Look. "Do _you_ want a wedding?"

Ron considered. He thought of Bill and Fleur's wedding and tried to imagine himself and Hermione in their shoes. He tried to imagine himself in dress robes, Harry at his side and their friends and family all around them. He tried to imagine Hermione, bright and radiant, walking up the aisle — walking towards him.

"Like you said," said Ron carefully. "There'd be loads of planning. I reckon we'd have to get Harry to organize, if we don't want Mum doing the entire thing. She'd insist on doing everything herself, and then we'd just end up fighting with her about all the food and the venue and all that. And then we'd have to see Aunt Muriel again —"

She wrinkled her nose at that.

"And you'd be stuck with me," he finished. "You'd never get rid of me again."

Hermione laughed and gave him the same sort of smile she usually did when he was being oblivious, rude, or particularly — well, _him,_ about something or other.

"Till death do us part?" she said.

"No getting out of that one."

"We've survived this long, haven't we? It's not so bad, being stuck with you."

Ron felt his heart leap, and he grinned. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Her smile stretched too. "Did we just decide to get married?"

"I think we did, yeah."

They stared at each other for a moment, uncaring about how soppy they must have looked to their colleagues. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she burst out laughing as if she had just understood a joke.

"I can't believe you proposed in a _cafeteria_. Wait till I tell Ginny."

Oh god.

Ron could practically hear his sister cackling.

" _Suggested_ ," he insisted. "It was a _suggestion_."

She smirked. "Should I expect a proper proposal then?"

His jaw dropped. He floundered around in his head, trying to remember how to close it.

_A proper proposal._ With flowers and candles and overpriced champagne. A ring he would need to hide somewhere, so Hermione could act surprised when he got down on one knee. A practiced speech he would have to write, full of clichés and awkward stammering.

The thought of Ginny's reaction was somehow less frightening.

"Hmm, thought so," said Hermione, laughing. "Well, it's not like I fell for you because you're such a romantic."

Ron leaned against the tabletop with his elbows, unable to contain his smile. "Why did you then?"

She rolled her eyes. "I ask myself the same question, sometimes."

"Oi!"

Before he could come up with a retort, she had pulled him down for a kiss that was over all too soon.

"I have to get back to work," she said, her eyes still bright with laughter. "I'll see you later, all right?"

Hermione stood, grabbed her tray, and began to leave, all before he had managed to regain his voice. She was halfway across the cafeteria when she paused and spun around to face him again.

"Ron?" she said. "Will you marry me?"

He blinked, suddenly very aware of the several co-workers staring at them. "Er — yes."

Hermione beamed so brightly that Ron blinked again. For a moment, he forgot where he was, he forgot the people, the place, the time — he remembered only that she loved him, that he loved her, and that they had their whole lives ahead of them. A quiet contentment spread through him as he thought of the months of work and preparation awaiting them — a _wedding_ , they were going to have a _wedding_ — and he couldn't help but grin back.


End file.
